Ours
by TributeTara
Summary: The love child of Taylor Swift music and my Twilight-soaked brain, this story focuses on the strange tale of Matthew Grey as his fate becomes tangled with a creature of fairytale. Slash fiction. Rated M, just to be safe.
1. The Beginning

**I must be fucking insane for starting this story. I have 2 unfinished stories out there, and I'm seriously starting a third? What the hell! I really didn't want to post this so soon, but I was afraid not to. I have to write it right away, and I can only write one at a time, so I need to post this as I go or you will get nothing from me until it's finished. This story need to be written this instant as it came to me in a dream and need to be written before I forget. I fell asleep after reading the newest update by WickedSlashAngel and didn't turn off Taylor Swift. **

**The result was the most beautiful, vivid dream that I've ever had. It felt so real and I need to share it with you. I'll do my best to give my dream justice. As this story was the love child of my Twilight-soaked brain and Taylor Swift, I think it makes perfect sense that I name this story after Taylor Swift related things. Personally, I adore her. Her love songs are all amazing. What else is more song-worthy than love?**

**This story will be 100% in Matthew's point of view. There will be no changes except for the occasional third person, which I will make obvious. Also, I'm not writing a disclaimer. If any of you actually believe that I own anything or that I am making a single penny off of this, then you fail. Hope you like!**

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><p>-INTRODUCTION-<p>

So this story is obviously far from the original series. This takes place partway through New Moon. Instead of having the who run-off-to-Italy-to-kill-myself-only-to-be-saved-by-Bella-and-return-to-live-happily-ever-after scenario, things are going to unfold quite differently... The OC's name is Matthew. He will be hard to bring to life as he is based off of my actions in my dream.

I've been doing research of the name that kept popping up in my mind after I woke up from my dream, "Vermillion". Besides being a reddish color and a Slipknot song, Vermilion is also the name of cities that are in multiple states. Among these states are North Dakota, Illinois, and Ohio. The Ohio and Illinois ones are spelled "Vermilion" with only one L. After much research, the Ohio one looks most like what I saw in my dream.

If you ever end up visiting Vermilion, OH and find that the real place doesn't match up with my story, then I apologize in advance. I doubt that half of what Stephenie says about Forks, WA is accurate either. I'm trying my best. I'm looking at pictures from satellites on Google Earth and trying to keep up to date on current stores and weather trends. I'm putting a hell of a lot more effort into this than most people.

And one lat thing. I read about this thing going on there that looked cool. I looked it up on Facebook and everything. It may be over already, but there's this thing there called "Terror In The Field" and it's like one of those haunted house attractions. It's behind on of the farmers' markets in town, but there was two or three and I forget which one it is. If you happen to be around there and it's still open, then let me know how it is, okay?

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><p>Chapter 1: The Beginning<p>

I slammed the door behind me as I tore out onto the street, the cool autumn air enveloping me. I ran as fast as my feet would carry me to my car, ignoring my foster mother as she yelled after me. I barely remember getting in or starting it. Next thing I knew, I was driving out from my home behind the local library. I had only been here a month and I was already sick of this town. It seemed like no matter who I was with, the drama followed. The foster care system in the country was screwed up. It seemed like they would just give you away to the first person that was willing to take you, no questions asked. I used to think that they screened people, but I was wrong.

This was my fourth foster family. The first had decided that they didn't want a child anymore, the second was a couple that thought they could never have their own only to conceive a couple of months after taking me in, and the third... she was the only one that I ever loved. My third 'family' was a lonely old woman named Elizabeth. She was the widow of a man who owned an successful steel mill. I was happy to help keep her rather large home clean and repair things from time to time. It was worth it. She was the carbon image of the perfect grandmother. She baked delicious treats all of the time and told me many stories about her past. I was hoping that it would last forever. I even took her last name, Grey.

But I could never be that lucky. Three years later, about a week after her ninety-second birthday, her heart gave out. It just... quit. And just like that, I was homeless again. She had left me a substantial amount of money without my knowledge, probably guessing that I would turn her money down like I always did, but that didn't help. I was only sixteen at the time, and I wouldn't be able to access the money until I was eighteen. I was very grateful, but no amount of appreciation could change my next two years of hell.

I was quickly taken by a strict military couple. I was fine with the strange code that they had. I woke up everyday at six o'clock sharp, weekday or weekend, and made my bed perfectly. They had a very specific routine which, while somewhat obnoxious, I could live with. It was their other side that killed me inside. They were both devout Baptist, therefore highly opposed to my sexuality. No Baptist parents want a gay son, adopted or otherwise. I hated it there. The wife, Nicole, tore down every shred of self-love and feeling of hope that I had hidden in my heart, while the husband, Gerard, would beat the shit out of my if I did even the slightest thing wrong. He looked for faults so hard that I would have been naïve to think that he didn't enjoy it.

How could I ever live in a place like that? I would rather live out of Miss Eliza's old Cadillac than stay there. I was seventeen now. If I could just pull through the winter and make it through March, then I could finally go out and live my life. I was stuck for now, but this nightmare was almost over.

I sighed heavily as though my breath would carry my worries away as I pulled into the driveway of an abandoned home on the lake. This lot was marked as uninhabitable, so nobody ever came by to check it out. It was when I always came when I needed to get away. I got out of the car, locking it, and made my way down the uneven steps that led to the long stretch of beach. I made the usual short walk to the beautiful section of beach that sat in front of a large mansion. The mansion, according to my research, was once owned by a man named Don Brown. He and his wife died when their private jet went down, leaving the grand estate to sit empty ever since.

I always looked at the home from the beach, think that I wanted to live there one day, but I never approached it. I almost felt like I wanted to be surprised by it if I ever got to live there. Also, I was afraid of what kind of security that the place must still have to prevent people form breaking in and stealing the expensive furniture and artwork that still sat in the exquisite home as though the owners weren't dead, but rather simply out for a meal. I always wondered what kind of people would end up buying this place eventually. Maybe some retired CEO of a big business and his wife.

"This is private property."

The voice sacred that hell out of me. I wasn't expecting it at all. I didn't even hear her coming. I turned my head to the left to see what was probably the single most beautiful woman that I had ever seen in my life.

"Hello, miss," I introduced, unhappy about the sudden shock back from nostalgia. "I'm Michael. Are you new here?"

"You could say that," she shrugged, "We just bought this place today."

Damn. That was fast. The universe sure didn't waste any time.

"Sorry if I'm bothering you," I apologized, wondering where I would go from now on, "I come here sometimes to clear my mind."

"Not anymore," she replied, brushing her blonde hair over her left shoulder, the pale skin exposed by a scarlet dress that wreaked of high-society.

"Hey, Rosalie!" called another beautiful young woman. "Stop being a diva." She glided through the sand in a well-cut blue dress. Her dark hair was medium-length and choppy. She was as obviously high-society as the blonde, but a lot nicer.

"Sorry if I'm trespassing," I apologized, doing my best to keep my mind off of the blonde. If she thought she was the only one that could be mean, she was wrong. "I didn't realize that someone had bought the house. It's been empty for a while now so I got used to no one being here."

The dark-haired woman snickered and rolled her head over to the blonde. "See, Rose? He's harmless." She turned her attention back to me. "I'm Alice, by the way."

"Matthew," I replied with a smile. "Are you two the one who bought this house?"

"Well, sort of," she said, "We're here with our family. My parents are busy getting all of the paperwork taken care of and my brothers are inside."

"You have brothers?"

"Three of them," she chimed.

I was wondering how such a big family was able to afford a home like this. Maybe they inherited the money from some ancestor who was some sort of wild tycoon, but judging by what I had seen so far, the possibility of them being a family of high-fashion models was not all that unlikely.

Alice interrupted my train of thoughts. "Do you have any siblings?"

"If I do, then I don't know about them." I shrugged.

She cocked a well-plucked eyebrow, asking me to elaborate.

"I have no idea who my real parents are at all," I replied, "I'm adopted." I bit my bottom lip briefly, hating that word.

'Adopted'. Such a horrible word. It's meant to take under one's care, but along with it came all of the negative stigma. There was the obvious issue of everyone wondering why you weren't with you real parents, but on top of that came the stereotypes. According to society, adoptees are all horrible delinquents. I obviously had my own troubles, but I wasn't that bad. I never hit my foster parents or broke any laws. I didn't even do any heavy drugs. I smoked a little weed every now and then, but it's not like I had snorting lines or anything.

"That's okay," she half-shrugged, "So are we."

"Excuse me?"

"Our parents can't have kids. Our mother, Esme, was in a car accident when she was a kid and can't conceive now."

I noticed that the blonde was gone, but didn't bother to bring up the fact. I wasn't too fond of her. "I had a family like that once."

"Had?"

I sighed softly, not really wanting to tell my life story. "They eventually conceived and decided that they only wanted one kid."

Her mouth gaped slightly. "That's awful!"

"Eh," I shrugged, "It happens. So how did you end up in this family?"

She smiled like she was getting ready to share a happy memory. "I was left on the steps of a church. Esme stepped up and took me home. I've been here ever since."

"Lucky. I bet they're a great family."

"They really are. They don't like having people they don't know really well in their home, but I'm sure they'd be delighted to meet your parents."

"Maybe," I replied, making a mental note to never let that happen. Alice seemed really nice. The last thing I wanted to do was let my parents get ahold of her.

"Well I have to get finished unpacking. Please don't mind Rosalie. She's just upset because she had to leave all of her friends in her senior year of high school and graduate with a bunch of strangers. Please don't hold it against her."

"Already forgiven," I replied with a smile. It was mostly true too. Mostly.

"She's actually a very caring person once you get to know her."

"I'll bet," I said sincerely. "Do you need help moving in?"

She rolled it around in her head for a bit. "Well, my parents are a bit strict about letting other people into our home..." she puckered one side of her mouth, "They probably won't like that. They're good people, just a little weird about company."

"I understand," I lied. "Are you still in high school?"

"Yup!" she chirped. "All five of us! Maybe we'll even have some classes together."

"What's your schedule look like?"

She held up her finger and began to dig through her purse. She retrieved a neatly folded piece of paper that had been slightly wrinkled from being stuffed inside a purse. She handed me the piece of paper which, upon unfolding it, I found it to be her school schedule. It read as follows:

_Period 1 - AP Physics_

_Period 2 – Art VI_

_Period 3 - Gym_

_Period 4 - Study Hall_

_Period 5A - Chemistry_

_Period 5B - Lunch_

_Period 6 - British Literature_

_Period 7 - Statistics_

"We have the same study hall, art class, lunch, and English class," I told her, folding the paper again and giving it back to her.

"Sounds like we'll se a lot of each other. Guess I should have asked what classes we _didn't_have together."

"I have period one calculus, period three government, period five anatomy, and period seven psychology."

"Are you serious right now?" she asked with a laugh. "Sounds like you'll be seeing a lot of Edward! He has almost the exact same schedule with the exception of art and government."

"Who's Edward?" I asked. "It is safe to assume that he's one of your brothers?"

"He is," she confirmed. She had a suspicious twinkle in her amber eyes "I think that you two will get along nicely. He's a bit quiet until you get to know him, but he's actually pretty cool."

I shrugged off the strange feeling. "Is he adopted too?"

"We all are," she reminded me.

"Oh, right." I felt kind of dumb for letting that slip past me. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Just remember that when you see us, okay?"

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "I don't understand."

"We aren't related in any way other than by law, so we are perfectly comfortable exploring relationships that real siblings would be shunned for doing."

"What are you saying?"

"For example, Jasper was taken in after his parents' car got stuck on the tracks and died. Now, we have a very _special_ kind of relationship..."

She was beating around the bush too much. She was obviously uncomfortable about the subject. I kind of understood what she was saying, but I couldn't be sure. I took a risk and just threw it out there.

"So you date?" I asked.

She giggled. "Yup. Hope it's not too weird."

"It's fine," I shrugged, "Like you said, you aren't blood relatives or anything."

"True," she pursed her lips, "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said, reminding me that it was Sunday.

"Okay. Let me know if you need anything."

"Sure thing!" she smiled before turning and running back up to her house. At one point, she pivoted in the sand, yelled back "See ya!", waved, and kept on running.

I heard a low rumbling as a drop of moisture skated down the side of my face. Vermilion seemed to be cloudy all the time, so rain wasn't rare. Not wanting to get soaked, I got in my car and began to drive back home. It may not be exactly where I wanted to be, but I had a strange feeling sprouting deep within me. I knew that, somehow, things were going to get better.

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><p><strong>So there's chapter one of the worst idea I've ever had (starting a third story when I have two that need finishing). I have a great feeling about this one. Unless Equilibrium shines solely based on its Jakeward value, then this story will far surpass Equilibrium. This one will be my pride and joy. Since I started writing this, I had two more dreams. They all seem to tie in, so I'm taking it as a sign. Please write a review. Also, let me know if you like the dialogue that I put before and after the chapters in Equilibrium. I will start posting MatthewEdward ones here with my input if enough demand is shown. Otherwise, I'll be posting straight updates. **

**Also, I may consider finding a beta. I love writing and, while updates would be slower, I feel like you deserve the best I can provide for you. I have also resigned to call you all honeybees. You are all super sweet to me, but come to my defense too (WestboroWizard, FFFFUUUUUUU!). I know that is not Jakeward, but I think that you will love this if you give it a chance. Anyone who knows anything about the real Vermilion, Ohio is asked to PLEASE send me a message with as much as you feel comfortable sharing. I know it's a stretch, but I want to learn as much as possible about this town to be accurate in my story. I also want to be able to accurately portray local on-goings, such as this "Terror In The Field" and the "Woolly Bear Festival". Please help me out there if you know anything. Be sure to review and read plenty of WickedSlashAngel. Love you, honeybees!  
><strong>


	2. Bowling With Blondie

**I am happy with my first review for this story, especially considering who the first reviewer was. Love you, WSA! The dreams are starting to take over my daydreams now. Haha. I'll find myself zoned out having a vivid daydream about -secret- as though I'm remembering watching it all happen in a movie. If I'm going to make artwork for any story, it will be this one. In word of my request for information on this story I've had not one, but TWO people start messaging me who claim to come from there! For their protection I will never tell anyone what their usernames are, but they are both being rather helpful. My mind is BLOWN right now. I had no idea that using a real town would be so easy! Well, I suppose that technically Forks is real, but whatever. You know what I'm saying.**

**I currently have one reader of Your Biggest Fan that live in the United States and two from Bermuda, where ever that is. I like writing, but I don't want to shoot words into cyberspace. If by Saturday I am not satisfied with it (I have only four reviews?) then I will have to abandon it. With this new story, I cannot waste my time on something that nobody is even reading. So I won't. If you REALLY like the story and don't want it scrapped, then adopt it. I will leave it up for a week after Saturday if I choose to abandon it. The first person to claim it can have it. You can take the story so far or just the idea. Either is fine.**

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><p>Chapter 2: Bowling With Blondie<p>

When I got home, the lights were off. At this hour, my foster parents were usually arguing. I shrugged it off, not caring enough to check the situation out. I quickly shifted upstairs where my school-issue Macbook was waiting for me. A small green light told me that it was fully charged. I went through my nightly routine, logging on to MyYearbook as usual. I spent hours online every night. I often found solace in talking to complete strangers. I had a nice circle of online friends here. I probably knew that these friends were meaningless in reality, but I kept them anyways. I still needed them.

I had the idea to look up Alice, but quickly realized that I never got her last name. I automatically accepted all four random friend requests before closing out the window. Almost immediately, an overwhelming wave of fatigue gripped me. I plugged in my Macbook and crawled into my bed, passing out immediately.

_I was walking through an amusement park with some friends, though I couldn't make out their identities. It didn't feel important though. The park was unfamiliar, but I knew in my head that it was Cedar Point. This would be my first time ever being here. The park was set up strangely. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The entire place was paved with asphalt, almost like some traveling carnival might be set up. All of the rides were stand alone and, looking back, would have been physically impossible. There was one water ride that quickly sloped ninety degrees into a straight drop and then evened out, that being the entire ride. There wasn't even any water running through it._

_The park was empty except for my ghost-like friends and I. Thousands of small pieces of paper glided across the ground, but I paid no mind. Over head was a spiraling, red coaster. I began walking until, eventually, I found where to board the ride. By this point, my friends had disappeared. I boarded the ride alone. It took off and, even though nothing was holding me in place, I stayed inside. The car was comparable to a mine cart. I stayed on the tracks for a while. When the car derailed, it didn't scare me. It was like I somehow knew that I wouldn't be harmed._

_The cart landed gently on the asphalt, bobbing slightly on impact as though the ground were made of water. I rode for a short while, but quickly found myself walking again. I walked until I reached a small, blue home with a wooden deck on the back. I made my way up the few steps, meeting a long pair of arms at the top. As the arms wrapped themselves firmly around me, I heard the words "ego sum exspecto vobis" whispered in my ear crisper than the snapping of a stalk of celery. The voice was warm, yet as the stranger talked, his cold breath sent a chill crawling down my neck..._

I woke up feeling wide awake already. I turned over to meet the harsh glare of my alarm clock, which exactly six o'clock. In my exhaustion, I had forgotten to set my alarm. I was lucky to have woken up on time regardless. My adoptive mother worked mornings and my adoptive father worked nights, so he slept in. Nobody would wake me up if accidentally forgot to set my alarm and I'd end up being late.

I accepted the strange coincidence and began my morning routine. While eating a breakfast of Captain Crunch, I noticed a torn, yellow slip of paper on the table.

_'Going on vacation. No company allowed over.'_

There was no name on it, but I recognized Nicole's handwriting. She had a toxic temper, but I liked her more because at least she stuck to words.

The rest of the morning dully blurred by until I found myself pulling into the school parking lot. It was an oddly shaped parking lot. There were two, one gravel and one paved. Naturally, I chose the paved one. It was smoother and closer to the school. I figured that the gravel one must have been added in afterward once the school got big enough that the paved parking lot wouldn't hold all of the cars. Even still, there was plenty of room in the paved section of the parking lot.

I got a space up front and let my car running so that I could listen to the radio for a little bit. It always seemed like as soon as you got to where you wanted to go, a good song comes on the radio. Today, that song was Marry The Night by Lady Gaga. Once the song was finish, I shut the car off, put my student parking tag on my rearview mirror, and got out. Even though I had been in town about a month, this was my first day here. The curriculum was so much different, so I had been doing online schooling to catch up with this school.

Looking around, I felt a strange diluted feeling. I could almost _feel_ the stupidity. The fun kind of stupidity. The kind of stupid that you are around your friends. Along with that, I felt the most subtle trace of doom in the atmosphere. A weird combination, I know. The whole school just felt weird. There were all kinds of people here. I only recognized one of them.

"Hi, Alice!" I called as I weaved around a car and to her rather expensive looking yellow Porsche. Normally a car that high-end would surprise me, as I had somehow convinced myself that everyone was middle class, but I had seen her house. That house would have cost her family millions.

"Hi, Matthew," she waved. "Can you show us around?" she asked, motioning toward an unfamiliar man who was standing next to her.

"I would, but today's my first day too," I shrugged. "We can be helpless together though."

The man next to her sigh. "I just ask the office." Without even looking at me, he turned and began making his way towards the school.

When he was far enough away that I was sure that he couldn't hear me, I asked, "Did I say something?"

"Don't worry about him," she rolled her eyes with a smirk, "He's just shy."

I opened my mouth to respond, but was roaring of a large red Jeep Wrangler as it pulled next to me. Like, _right_ next to me.

"Sorry about that, kid from yesterday," shouted a masculine voice from inside.

I looked up and saw the blonde girl from yesterday, Rosalie. I cocked an eyebrow at her.

She rolled her eyes, "He's on the driver's side."

"Liar," replied the masculine voice as a broad, and I mean _broad_, man with short hair stepped around from behind the car. He was freaking _built_! If I ever got into a fight, I would pick him to back me up.

"I met Rosalie yesterday," I said, ignoring her eye roll, "But not you."

"I'm Emmett," he introduced, extending his hand.

I shook his hand politely. Naturally, he has the firmest handshake I had ever encountered. "Quite the grip you got there."

"You don't know the half of it," he said, looking down at the ground in a rather peculiar way. A way that I recognized. I only did that when I really wanted to say something perverted, but didn't.

The rest of the day was annoying. It was the same routine where ever teacher introduces you. Every single class. Throughout the day, Alice and her family were in my class. I came to learn that their family name was Cullen. Like me, today was also their first day. Therefore, they joined me in the introduction parade. By lunch, I had most of their personalities memorized.

Alice was somewhat quirky, but really sweet. She loved fashion and was an amazing artist. Jasper, the quite one, was quiet. Very quiet. But he was a very polite person from what I could tell. Emmett was loud and hilarious. My first impression was that he kept the side of him to his close friends only, but by fourth period, I had already received two obscene drawing. Rosalie was a bitch.

There was, according to most of the teachers who went to introduce me, a fifth Cullen. Alice, and most of my teachers, told me that his name was Edward. Alice said that he was out because he had tuberculosis.

I was getting ready to line up for lunch and ran into Alice again. I asked her to sit with me, but she was using her senior sign-out and going out to eat with her family. I couldn't blame her for wanting to go to Subway or something instead, but now I would sit all alone. The lunch was pretty decent, though I'm not a big potato fan. A strange boy sat with me, but beggars couldn't be choosers I suppose. As soon as lunch was over, I went straight to English class. I was given Wuthering Heights to read for next Friday's book test.

The rest of the day was dull. I honestly couldn't see doing this every single day. And the first day is supposed to be the most fun. As if! Disappointed, I elected to go home. It was a very depressing to, to be honest. I felt like I was making pretty great friends with Alice and Emmett. I even had their numbers now. Jasper was sweet, so I'd get along with him eventually. Rosalie... well that was a hard one. I would be nice to her and try to get on good terms, but I didn't see us becoming friends. I got home and started texting.

_'What you guys up to?'_ I texted Emmett.

He quickly replied. _'Bowling with Blondie. Alice should be free though.'_

_'Sure thing. See you tomorrow.'_ I sent back. Scrolling down to Alice's number. _'You free?'_

There was a small gap before she replied. _'Be right over.'_

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><p><strong>Not a climatic way to end a chapter, but bear with me. I'm almost done setting up. Things are gonna start getting a little stranger... If you want to leave some mystery, do not look up the words that I put in the dream. Especially not Google Translate. They suck. I went to multiple authentic English to -omitted- sites to make sure it was right. I feel like such a creep doing all of this research. Speaking of which, I probably know everything about Vermilion now. One of my informants even sent me some pictures! Haha. I have such amazing readers! I love you guys so much! Well, please review below and PM me if there is anything drastic I should change. I'll love you if you review or now, but... Oh, what the hell. Just review, honeybees!<strong>


	3. The Window

**Sorry about the gap. I've been writing, I promise! I'm also working on an original story that I plan to send into some publishers. Maybe I'll get lucky? If I go too long without being noticed, I promise to upload it to Fiction Press. I really want to tell you what it's about (I originally wrote it out here but deleted it and put this sentence in its place). I want it to be mysterious though. I will tell you two things about it. One, it is a romance as those are my favorites. Two, it is not about vampires (or werewolves) as thanks to the trend that Stephenie Meyer set, there are now hundreds of those. There are a couple of stories like mine, but I am going to do it in a unique way. I hope you guys will read it when I publish it (hopefully in stores instead of on fictionpress, but let's be realistic). If I end up in stores, you all get free signed copies, but don't get your hopes up at all. Haha. I know mine sure aren't.**

**Anyways, I learned today that Vermilion gives their high school students Macs too. Personally, I just put that in there because that's how my school is and it's more fun that a Mac-less school. Who knew? I do now, and so do you! I bought a bunch of Madonna music this weekend. It's okay I guess. I got the Celebration album. It's one of those greatest hits albums. I like some of it, my favorite being material girl, but a lot of it is kinda boring. Well, I'm all Madonna'd out. I'm gonna listen to some Adele and write the newest chapter of Ours for you. Enjoy!**

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><p>Chapter 3: The Window<p>

We spent the day shopping in Sandusky. We had fun, but not much happened. Things were normal up until the end.

"I heard about this amazing little French restaurant nearby called Zinc Brasserie," I suggested, "They're supposed to be really good. Wanna go?"

Alice and Emmett shared a quick glance. It would go almost unnoticed if it weren't so... peculiar.

"We should actually get home," Alice replied. She was somewhat suspicious. I wasn't sure what the issue was, so I assumed that they were one of those families that always ate with each other. It wasn't weird or anything. I just wasn't used to it. My 'parents' always ate out.

I accepted the fact that we wouldn't be eating out together, not wanting to push the topic. These people were my first friends at this new school and I didn't want to come across as the clingy type. I realized that I would have to find more people to hang out with or set some days aside for personal time. As much as I would like to do something everyday, the last thing I wanted to do was annoy them.

"It's fine," I smiled at them, "Another time."

"Definitely," replied Alice with an odd but believable smile.

"Here. Let me carry some of your bags," I suggested, trying to be a gentleman.

I was planning to take a couple bags from her hands as I had only two bags as opposed to her eight, four of which Emmett was already carrying. I'm not even sure that he bought anything for himself. Alice, on the other hand, was quite the shopaholic.

When I hooked a few fingers around the of two of her H&M bags, my fingers brushed against the back of her pale hand. What I experienced in that moment, I couldn't quite comprehend. I felt an outlandish spark claw its way up my arm. It was cold and sharp, yet smooth like some of the world's finest silks may have been.

"Alice," I voiced, "Why are you so cold."

She met my gaze, her amber eyes resembling those of a deer caught in the headlights.

"I should probably get her home," interjected Emmett. "She'll be fine."

"I have poor circulation," announced Alice.

"She's always had it," stated Emmett.

I had no reason to disbelieve them. "I assume you'll be wanting your keys back," I said as I pulled out his car keys that I still had from when I parked the car for us.

"That might just come in handy," he joked. He put out his hand to catch the keys.

"No way," I laughed. "I have terrible aim." I walked up and put the keys into his hand. In that brief moment, I felt the shock again. Upon seeing a somewhat strange tone aroused in his face, I elected not to mention it.

It was all very strange. They refused to eat with me, even during lunch at school. Now, they're both ice cold. I considered the possibility that they might be sick, but they both looked fine to me. The likelihood of them both having the same circulation problems when they are not biologically related at all was slim. Perhaps it gets cold faster in Ohio? After all, it _is_ late October.

The ride home was a quiet one. I didn't mind and took this as an opportunity to check MyYearbook. I accepted all of the friend requests again without checking who they were. I made a few comments on some statuses before logging off. People on MyYearbook could get depressing. Only a few people on there actually talk to me. One is a girl who keeps crying about her ex. Another is some girl who feels the urge to tell me about it whenever anybody disrespects her in the slightest.

"Thanks for today," I said as I got out of the car, "I had an awesome time. Let's do it again soon, okay?"

"Bye, Matthew," she called to me as the car slowly rolled out of my driveway.

I sighed, exhausted from the day. There was a lot that I found hard to understand. None of it made any sense. I wanted to chalk it all up to reasonable causes, but I just couldn't. I knew that everything could be explained. All of it. The cold skin, never eating around me, all of it. The cold skin could very well be poor circulation. The likelihood of both siblings having it was highly unlikely, especially since they were adopted, but it wasn't impossible.

And maybe they didn't eat around me because they had a special diet. They probably had some sort of eating deficiency that ran in the family. Maybe they had Celiac disease and couldn't eat anything with gluten in it. Gluten is in all wheat products, and wheat is in pretty much everything. They probably had special food at home the the whole family had to eat.

The whole family... The whole _adoptive_ family. Damn. The fact that they weren't genetically related slipped my mind for a brief second. There was no way they could all have the same disease. I understand wanting to go to Subway or something for lunch instead of staying in the cafeteria, but they refused to eat while we were shopping. I even bought us some soft pretzels at one point. They just walked around with them for a while only to have them suddenly disappear. I never saw them take one bite, so I assumed that they were nestled in a trash can somewhere in the mall.

Maybe they were just nervous eaters? None of it really sat well with me. It was just too weird. I didn't want to ask them too many questions, since they were my only friends here, but I needed to know.

A cold breeze rushed at me, reminding me that I was still standing in my driveway. I decided to think about it more later and went inside. The door was locked again. Dammit. I was so into the habit of locking the door behind me when I leave, knowing that my legal guardians always got home before me and unlocked the door.

I walked around to the back to find that door locked. I was starting to worry. I began playing with all of the windows. They were all locked. I tried all of them. My room was a loft, so it was the only room in the entire house that was on a second story. I liked it. It was above the hell that festered below. It was almost like my castle in the sky. I realized that if any window was unlocked, it would be mine. The was positioned in the back, the siding from the first story going up onto my room. It resembled an inverted letter T. It looked rather odd. It was on the same level as the attic, it wasn't very noticeable from the front.

There was a gutter system that wrapped around the edges of the roof, only to lead a few spouts the pour the water out in designated paths. One such pipe ran down from my room. I tested it. It wiggled some, but seemed stable for the most part. The cold was beginning to gnaw at my fingers and the tip of my nose. Wanting to get inside before the cold got to be too bothersome, I took hold of the pipe.

I began to slowly shimmy up it. The higher I got, the more uneasy it made me feel. I discovered that it was nowhere near as stable as I had thought it was. I was clinging to the siding of the house, as if that could help me if I fell. By the time I was only a couple of feet from my window, I could hear the metal drainpipe creaking violently underneath me, releasing a shrill scraping noise that made me want to grind my teeth.

I was only a foot away from my window when something broke. I was panicking by now, regretting this stupid decision as I cling to the pipe. It swayed threateningly as I hopelessly dragged my fingers along the side of the house, as if it could help. I carefully inched my way up to the window. I reached up to push the window open and attempt to grab the inside edge of the window frame before the drainpipe fell.

I was lucky that the pipe has supported me thus far. As it would turn out, this would be the point where my luck ran out. I pushed up on the glass of the window. Locked. The futile push caused me to sway backwards ever so slightly. It was enough though. I was pretty good at physics, as new exactly how this would end. I looked backwards to calculate where I would land.

If I had fallen to the left or right, I'd have landed in the grass. It would be a hard fall and would likely land me in the hospital, but it would be so much better than what was waiting to catch me in the path I was falling. You see, my adoptive mother took pride in her landscaping. She was actually pretty good at it too. In the backyard, she had set up a nice little koi pond was a rectangular block of polished granite next to it to serve as a bench so that she could watch the koi fish.

Why don't you take a guess as to where I was landing.

I turned my head back around, squeezing my eyes shut. Landing on that piece of granite would probably break my spine. I held my eyelids shut, praying that the break would destroy my pain receptors. The fall would most definitely leave me unable to move. If my ability to feel remained, I would end up laying there in unimaginable agony as I slowly bled out. Hopefully I'd roll of into the pond and drown afterwards instead of onto the stones that were spread along the ground around the bench.

I felt the wind arc past the back of my head and the world tilt as the pipe detached from the house completely and bent backwards from where it was attached to the main drainage pipe in the ground. At one point, it all stopped. I had stopped falling. I let go of the pipe and it slid off of my body, landing nearby with a splash. I have already hit the bench. I was lucky. I could feel no pain, so I assumed that my spine had broken just right.

I reluctantly opened my eyes to see hundreds of stars twinkling in the night sky. Turning my head to the side, I saw the pond. The few fish residing in the pond were investigating the pipe, probably wondering what the hell it was doing there. I rolled my head to the other side and, for only the briefest of moments, I thought I could see the silhouette of a man lurking in the dark. Instinctually, I used my arms to push myself up into a reclined position.

"Who are you?" I asked, failing to keep my focus on him.

I quickly realized that I was not paralyzed. I looked down the rest of my body, realizing that I was fine. I pushed myself up to a sitting position. My limbs felt like they were made of gelatin, but I was okay. I turn my attention back to the shadow, only to find nothing there.

I sat there, staring at the spot where the shadow had been standing. I must've been there for nearly twenty minutes before I had completely wrapped my mind around the fact that I was not dying. If it weren't for the fact that the pipe that was next to my bedroom window now sat in the koi pond, I would have thought that I possibly fell asleep on the bench as had a strange dream. But the evidence was all there.

I slowly swung my gelatinous legs over the side of the bench, struggling to stand. I managed to get on my feet for a moment, but but fell again. I cursed in my mind as my knees collided with the stones that covered the ground, sending a dull pain up my legs. After about thirty seconds, I got back on my feet again. I began sloppily walking back towards the house. When I went to open the backdoor, it slid open easily.

I know for sure that it had been locked, as it was the second entrance that I tried, but now it was unlocked? I ran straight up to my room to sort things out, knowing that nothing seemed right. I put my iPod of shuffle and dove onto my bed, 'Awful' by Never Shout Never playing.

First of all, and most prominent right now, was my fall. The likelihood of surviving a fall like that wasn't that high, but it was possible. Coming out of it uninjured, however, was impossible. I didn't have a single scratch or bruise. The most pain that I experienced throughout the entire experience was from falling as I tried to make my way back to the house.

Next was the silhouette. Who was he? Was he an guardian angel? I didn't believe in any of that supernatural stuff, but it sure made sense right now. It was probably safe to assume that he was the reason that I was unharmed in my room inside of dying in the backyard. I was grateful, don't get me wrong. That didn't make it any less impossible.

The strange Cullen family crossed my mind, but I figured that there was no way that they could be connected to this at all. It was strange that they were so cold and never seemed to eat, but that would have to wait for another brainstorming session.

Unless...

I sat straight up, remembering a strange legend that I had once learned from Miss Gray. I hadn't read it in so long. All I remembered was something about cold people. It was a weird story that could never have been true, but right now I wasn't exactly too worried about what was possible and what wasn't. I got up and made my way to the small bookshelf at the foot of my bed. It was one of those portable wooden ones. It was painted the shade of blue that navy fabric would portray after being bleached by the sun. It was Miss Gray's. She was a wealthy woman, but she had the taste of the stereotypical grandmother. This small bookshelf was a prime example.

I knew right where that book was. It had worn leather binding that was dyed a forest green. From my memory, the spine had a thick brown rectangle with a gold embossed border and matching letters. I had since forgotten the title of the book, but I always kept it at the very top right. I got up and kneeled in front of the bookshelf, only to find another strange sight. The book was missing! In place of the book I was an antiqued copy of Wuthering Heights.

I had to read that book for school anyways, so why not have the full classic experience? I didn't remember it being there, but I had never really touched most of those book anyways. They were given to me after Miss Gray's passing, and I had only organized them. Past that, I only read two or three of them. The were more for memorabilia than literary purposes.

I was snapped out of my thoughts. By something that pushed me over the edge. It was something so concrete that if I didn't think that there wasn't anything seriously wrong by now, then this would definitely prove it. I hesitated for a moment before slowly turning from the bookshelf to face yet another chilling piece of the strange puzzle that was quickly being spilled out at my feet. As I turned, my hair gently brushed my forehead as it danced in the cold breeze coming in from the window. The same window that I had reached right before falling and miraculously surviving a fatal fall without even a bruise. That same window that was once locked tightly was now gaping wide open. Someone had been in my room.

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><p><strong>Oh, snap! This chapter was weird! I know that it's going pretty fast, but I know where I'm going with this. I want to thank those of you who have read, left me reviews, andor added me to one or more of their lists. It really means a lot to me! I'm off to find a good story to read for a bit. It's been a while since I've gotten into a story. I'm always writing my own or reading a quick update of one of the ones that I follow. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Be sure to review before you go, honeybees!**


	4. Masquerade

**You guys must think I've forgotten about you. Well the truth is, I've been insanely sick. I've had the same cold that everyone's been having, but it got really bad for me and trashed my immune system. I had to stay in the hospital for a while because of it. It was really scary and gross. I'm going to assume that you are here to read a romance story and not listen to everything that happened to me, so I'll spare you the disgusting details. It was horrible, but I'm getting better. It's back to a normal cold now and I'm taking these giant pills for it. They look like fucking horse pills. I promised myself that I'd finish this before New Year's, so after a month, here is update four!**

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><p>Chapter 4: Masquerade<p>

I never could figure out whether or not the strange events that I had experience had actually happened. As real as it all felt, it also felt very fabricated at the same time. Those 'memories' had the weird, mindless feel that dreams had though. There was no evidence to suggest that anything out of the ordinary had happened. The morning after the alleged events had occurred, I found that not one door was locked. The gutter, which I never moved, clung to the side of the house in the same way that it always had.

Over the next couple of months, many things changed. My adoptive father was called to serve in Afghanistan. With Gerard gone, Nicole simmered down a lot. Her temper had dramatically died down. She was a lot more normal. She was almost enjoyable to be around. She had a bit of a creative side that I had never seen. If she hadn't left such deep scars, I'd have probably liked her.

My relationship with the Cullens was different now. Rosalie, who used to have a simple attitude problem, now radiated an air of hatred towards me. Jasper, who used to just be quiet, now ignored me all together. Alice and Emmett were the only of them that still talked to me, and even they felt distant. When I was talking to them, it felt like I was practicing my lines for a play with the cast.

I hung out in the art room a lot. I worked hard in there, and even managed to make a few friends. Halloween passed by without much attention being paid. Thanksgiving was pleasant. Before I knew it, Christmas was over too. The days almost seemed to blend together. Everything seemed to continue in such a routine until it was time for New Year's.

Nicole's heels clicked as she emerged from her room. "I'm going out with some friends for a few hours," she told me as she checked her make-up in the hallway mirror and put her hair up into a black claw. "You got some mail. It's on the table."

"Thanks, Nicole," I said, making my way to the dining room.

"You know," she sighed, "You don't have to call me Nicole."

"Nikki then?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'll see you later."

I sifted through the envelopes silently until I found the one meant for me. Nicole eventually huffed and went out the front door. Her lime Ford Escape pulled out of the driveway as I carefully ripped the envelope open. Inside was an elegantly decorated piece of white paper, folded and sealed with scarlet wax. I gently peeled off the seal from the bottom so that I didn't destroy it. I found the emblem interesting.

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><p><em>You have been invited to celebrate New Year's with me and my family at our home. We'd be honored to have you be there the first time anyone outside of the family has entered our home. It will be an invite only event, so please bring this invitation with you. We will be having a formal masquerade ball. Many people will be there so I hope that you will do your best to pull together and outfit. You outfit, while creative, should not be outrageous. Ladies can wear any formal floor-length dress, gentlemen can wear any formal two-piece or three-piece suit. <em>

_We ask that you put your own creativity and effort into creating your own mask, but we do realize that due to the short notice that creating something it such a short time window may not be possible for everyone. If you cannot make a mask in time, call the number below before the twenty-ninth and one will be delivered to your home. Any later and there is no guarantee that the mask will be delivered. Anyone without a mask or appropriate clothing will be turned away even if they have an invitation with them._

Please make your masks as elaborate as possible. We hope to see some true works of art. Be prepared for a night full of dancing! My family and I are eager to see you there.

_Sincerely,_

_Alice Cullen_

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><p>Alice? I was glad that she had made contact with me outside of school, as she hadn't done that in quite a long while. It had been months. I was slightly offended that the invitation was so impersonal, but I suppose that she must have just printed up the same one. At least she invited me. I was excited to finally be able to see the inside of that house that I had spent so many afternoons staring at from the beach. The idea of attending such a theatric, yet formal event was somewhat intimidating, but I started up my car anyways. It was the twenty-seventh and I had no time to waste if I wanted to finish a mask worthy of a masquerade before the party.<p>

It took me about twenty minutes to get to Sandusky. The traffic was fairly reasonable since Cedar Point season was over. I picked up almost anything in the craft store I thought that I might use. I had many paints, trimmings, and beads, most of which I would never use.I found a table and spread my items on one side. The other side was taken up by a woman in her mid-twenties. I began to sift through the materials, deciding what exactly I was going to make.

As I set aside some lace and silver paint to keep, the woman across from me spoke up.

"It looks like you're planning quite the project," she said. Her voice was very smooth. "Are you making a mask?"

I nodded. "I'm going to a masquerade for New Year's."

"That sounds lovely. Are you excited?" she asked.

"I am, but..." I shrugged, slightly put off by her outgoing small talk. "I probably shouldn't bother you with my worries."

"No, it's okay," he said, pulling her burgundy lips into a smile. "After all, if something's bothering you, why not talk it out with someone that you'll never see again?"

"I suppose that makes sense," I replied, sorting assorted gold decorations into a pile to put back. "I'm really nervous about it."

"Why would you be nervous?"

"I'm not really sure," I shrugged, "It's just that I thought the people who invited me didn't like me."

She frowned. "Why would you think that?" She asked, cutting a large stripe of smooth-looking black fabric.

"It's just that they used to talk to me everyday, but it seems like they've been avoiding me these past few months."

"Maybe there's a family problem that they don't feel comfortable talking about?"

"Maybe. They are a pretty strange bunch after all." I chose to put back the red beads and maybe spend some extra money on nicer ones somewhere else. This fucking mask was probably going to end up costing me more than the suit.

"How are they strange?" She asked, putting a couple rolls of sky blue ribbon into a basket. She began measuring out matching silky fabric.

"Well I hate to gossip," sighed, tossing the silver glitter into the return pile. "I don't really understand it all myself."

"That's okay. You're not being mean or anything, so it's fine."

Normally I would probably not talk about people behind their back, but I needed a second opinion. "Well for one, they've never eaten in front of me."

"That's certainly notable." she commented, making small ticks in the fabric.

"And I spent an entire day. When I got food, they would just sit there. They always leave during lunch. Always."

"Maybe they have special dietary restrictions that run in the family?"

"But they aren't related, which is strange considering how similar they all are," I chose to use the mask with the covered nose over the open-nosed one. "And they're all cold."

I heard a light clink as something hit the ground. I instinctually bent down to pick it up. My fingers found an ornate silver butterfly.

"I'm so clumsy," she giggled, accepting the piece. "Thank you."

"Anytime," I smiled. "So what do you think of these people? Personally, it's been driving me insane."

"I think that you should go to this party," she replied, "I bet they'd be more than willing to clear things up if you're honest with them. I'm sure that you guys could talk it out."

"True. They seem nice enough," I laughed, "Except for the blonde one."

"Is she mean?"

"Not so much mean as very rude and arrogant," I smirked, "But it's whatever. Her boyfriend likes me enough that I bet it annoys the hell out of her."

The woman laughed. "Who's her boyfriend?"

"Now that's a long story that I won't even begin to tell," I replied with a chuckle. I began to fill up the two baskets I had, one with stuff to buy and the other with stuff the put back on the shelves.

"Well I hope you have fun," she said, slicing of a large piece of the fabric, "Personally, I have a dress to make. I hope everything works out for you."

"Thank you," I smiled back at her. "You were right about talking, by the way. I feel much better."

"Glad I could help," she said with a warm smile before heading up front to check out.

By the time I had everything I didn't want put back and was ready to check-out, she was gone.

I ended up buying the crimson beads from a glass jewelry store. After having to search many stores for the beads, I had the masks design all planned out. It would be a black mask with a hint of black glitter, but not enough to draw much attention. I would paint the lace silver and arrange it symmetrically on the mask. I would sew the beads so that they looked like they were part of the lace. I was very excited about my elaborate plans and began working the moment I got home.

I went straight to my room, working on my desk. At some point Nicole got home, but she said nothing to me and instead sat on the couch watching her various reality television shows. After a few hours, my mask was completed.

Over the next couple of days, I chose a suit and some new dress shoes. All too soon, I found myself in front of the Cullen home. I stood outside the front door like an idiot, too nervous to ring the doorbell. Another guest that arrived after me had to do it.

"Please, come in," greeted a blonde gentleman in his mid-twenties. "Thank you for coming."

I stuck close to the other guest on the way in, but broke free from him as soon as I was far enough through the door to be out of the way. The house was gorgeous! Everything was decorated accordingly. Everything. A bouncy girl, obviously Alice, flitted down the stairs in a raspberry dress and a matching latticed mask. She greeted me quickly before joining a gentleman with a white and gold mask in the large ballroom that they had prepared. I assumed the man to be Jasper, but I could be wrong.

"Glad you could make it," came a familiar voice.

I turned around to face the owner of the voice. It was unmistakably Emmett. The small mask was almost comical with his large build.

"Thanks for inviting me," I said shaking his hand. It was still just as cold as I remembered.

"He didn't," said the beautiful blonde woman in red next to him, "Alice was the one who sent the invitation."

Blatantly ignoring her, I continued. "This home is a lot different then I ever imagined it would be. From the outside it looks so different."

"Thank you. Esme is especially fond of this home."

"Esme?" I asked.

"She's out mother."

"I've never met her," I stated, "Will she be here tonight?"

"She will be later."

"I can't wait to meet her."

"She'll like you. Have a great time, Matthew!"

Thanks, Emmett."

I watched them walk into the ballroom and chose to follow them. The room was stunning. The modern walls had been decorated to give the room a more classical atmosphere. The only wall left untouched was the large wall of glass that faced the beach. I had no idea that anything in this dreary little town could be so elegant and beautiful. I found a small empty table to sit at.

Everyone seemed to be so great at dancing. I couldn't recognize anyone, but I suppose that was the point of a masquerade. It was captivating. Everyone seemed so happy. I was particularly captivated by two women, one in jade and one in burgundy, dancing gracefully together. They circled the floor, honey and chestnut hair bouncing in formal curls.

"They aren't going to make it."

I looked up at the voice, smooth and refined like quality champagne, yet devilishly husky. Hiding behind his simple white mask adorned with expertly manipulated golden wire were dazzling citrine eyes.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" he asked, resting his hand on the back of the chair across from me.

"Sure."

He pulled out the chair and sat down, propping an elbow on the table as his rested in the nook between his jaw and his neck.

"So what did you mean?" I asked curiously.

"About what?"

"You said that they wouldn't make it."

"Oh, them?" he chuckled, "Their minds aren't pure enough to last together."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Their minds are tainted."

"Tainted?" I asked, humoring him. "Tainted by what?"

"Vanity."

"There's nothing wrong with being just a little bit vain," I added.

"True, but these women are comparing themselves to each other the entire time," he sighed, "This whole dance, they've been jealous of how much prettier they think the other is."

"That's ridiculous," I said, "They're both beautiful." And they were. They both looked like they were pulled straight from a fashion magazine and given masks.

"But they don't know that. They tried so hard to be beautiful tonight in vain attempts to be prettier than each other."

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

"I can read their minds," he replied, pulling his lips into a crooked smile.

"Okay," I laughed, "What about me? Is my mind tainted?" He was entertaining, so I what harm could there be in playing along?

"Not tainted," he said, "Just troubled."

"Troubled?" I could feel myself getting more interested. "How so?"

"You're mental tired. Life's worn you out."

"Why would I be worn out?" I asked. "In case you can't tell, Vermilion isn't exactly an overwhelming place."

"But you haven't lived in this quiet town long enough for that matter," he said, deepening his gaze.

"What?" The air felt somewhat thicker.

"You're tired from moving around so much," he said with solid conviction.

"How do you-?" I began, but was cut off.

"That's why your exhausted." He dropped his hands down so that his arms laid crossed on the table.

He was seriously disturbing me now. "You seriously need to explain how you-"

"Moving around between so many family took it's toll on you."

I pursed my lips to prevent myself from saying anything. How could he know so much about me? The only people that I had let in on my life since coming here were Alice and Emmett, and I didn't remember telling them my story. Regardless, this man was obviously not Emmett. After a long, uncomfortable silence, I gave up my search for an appropriate response and stood up.

I had been looking forward to tonight because I was excited to see Alice and Emmett again, but now I just wanted to go home. Home? Ha! Like I could call it that. I wordlessly made my way to the door, doing my best to keep a good pokerface so that I didn't disrupt the party. The door swung open easily, allowing me to run out into the night where the cold air was waiting for me. I dug for my car keys in my pocket, finding nothing.

"You forgot these."

I turned around to see the man from the party swinging my keys on his finger by the ring. I went to grab them, but he jerked his hand away.

"Give them back," I growled angrily.

"Only if you hear me out."

"What's there to say?" I snapped back. "You know way too much about me. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Just let me explain," he pleaded.

"I'd really love to see you try," I replied with an angry chuckle.

"When Alice was inviting you, I thought your name looked familiar. I did some research and found details on your families."

"Why would you-"

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I should have been more considerate."

I sighed. "Okay, I heard you out. Now can I have my keys back?"

"Actually-"

"No. Not 'actually' anything," I stamped. "Give them to me now."

"Won't you stay?"

"Why would I want to stay?" I demanded.

"Because I know Emmett will understand, but Alice will be upset when she realizes your gone."

How the hell did he know about my relationship with Alice and Emmett?

"Again with knowing way too much about me!" I reached for my keys again, only to find myself grasping into emptiness. His arm wrapped around my waist to prevent me from falling, but I pushed him away. "What the fuck is your deal?"

"Alice and Emmett are my siblings," he revealed.

What? I faintly remembered Emmett saying something about hanging out with his brothers, indicating more than Jasper, but I had always assumed it was a slip.

"I'm seriously sorry for freaking you out," he all but groveled. "Will you please come back inside?"

I sighed, realizing that he wasn't giving me me my keys. "I suppose it's warmer inside anyways."

"Thanks," he said with a cheesy grin.

As soon as he got me through the front door, he gave me my keys and broke away back into the ballroom. I thought about turning around and leaving now that I had my keys back, but he was right about Alice. She would be disappointed if I left.

"C'mon, Matthew!" demanded a female voice as a gloved hand grabbed mine, spinning me around to face Alice. "You can't come to party and not dance." Without waiting for a response, she dragged me into the ballroom.

"Sorry," I apologized, barely avoiding stepping on her shoe again. "I'm not much of a dancer."

"Don't worry," she giggled, "You'll learn faster than you might think."

And she was right. I came quickly after I made my fair share of mistakes.

"Alice?" I asked, continuing when she raised her eyebrow as a signal for me to continue, "Do you have a brother?"

"Of course!" She giggled. "I have multiple brothers. You met Jasper a while ago and you talk to Emmett almost every day at school. Where did that come from?"

"I know Jasper and Emmett," I rolled my eyes playfully. "I was asking if you had any _other_ brothers."

She sighed and pulled her mouth into a smirk. "You met Edward, didn't you?"

"So his name's Edward?"

"I can tell by your face what you're thinking," she said with a smile.

"You can?"

She nodded. "He is pretty perceptive."

"Alice..." I sighed. "He knew I was adopted."

"Oh," she frowned. "I never told you."

"Told me what?"

"We were Googling people and stumbled across you."

"I'm Googlable?" I laughed. "I had no idea. Well that certainly clears it up a lot. And here I thought he was creeping on me."

She giggled before continuing. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want to embarrass you. I didn't even consider that Edward might say anything."

"I'm the one who should be sorry," I sighed.

"Why's that?" she asked, somewhat concerned.

"I was kind of rude to him."

She shrugged. "Just be sure to talk to him later and he'll be fine."

"To be honest, I almost left the party he was freaking me out so much."

"Matthew!" she play-slapped me. "You can't leave the party! After all, where else would I be able to get away with this in front of so many people?"

"Get away with wh-?" I began, but was interrupted by her violently spinning me outward before spinning me back in and ducking me. Damn, she was strong!

"Aren't you glad you stayed?"

"There's no rose in your mouth, Alice," I scolded. "How unprofessional!"

"Sorry if I'm not the man you bargained for," she huffed jokingly.

"Well you're certainly strong like one," I laughed. "You popped every bone in my arm."

She flexed her bicep, kissing the muscle that bulged from her skin. "Runs in the family."

I laughed, stopping when I noticed a peculiar man watching from the side. "I think you're getting checked out," I said, nodding towards him.

"Oh, that's just Jasper," she said, looking over her shoulder. "He's probably being polite and letting you dance with me, but he's a true romantic at heart. Do you think you could find another dance partner for a bit?"

"Dancing with you brother? How scandalous!" I joked.

Taking the hint, she laughed and began a quick pace towards him, turning back only to mouth a 'thank you'.

I danced with many other people that night. At one point, we started doing this thing where we'd trade off partners after so long. This led to many strange pairs and made for a rather comical evening. At one point I ended up dancing with Emmett. He was hilarious. When it came time to switch again, we were next to two women dancing together. One held her hand out to Emmett, only to earn a wink as he swept the other giggling woman away.

Without much thought, I took the rejected woman's hand. I heard a growl as a snake my arm around the woman's waist and began dancing.

"You okay there?"

You see. The thing about masquerades is that just because you can't tell who is on the other side of a mask doesn't necessarily mean that they don't recognize you.

"I think I'd rather just sit this one out." Rosalie.

"Oh, no you don't!" chimed Alice cheerfully as she twirled past us, dancing with an elderly gentleman.

Rosalie sighed. "Dammit."

"You know what?" I sighed. "I think I'd rather sit this one out."

"What?" demanded Rosalie. "Why?"

"Think about it." I rolled my eyes at her. "You've never been anything but mean and rude towards me. Why would I want to dance with you?"

Her rose pink, perfect fucking little mouth gaped open.

"Why would anyone want to be near someone like you?"

And with that, I turned around and left her one the floor alone.

I was almost back to my seat when an arm wrapped around the small of my back.

"Oh, no you don't," came a familiar voice.

I was spun around to face a familiar white mask with citrine eyes gazing out from underneath it. "Edward?"

"Who told you my name?" he asked with a smile.

"Alice," I replied.

He nodded, wordlessly sweeping me back out to the ballroom floor. I was confident that I was a decent dancer, but Edward was obviously better.

"I wanted to apologize for be rude earlier."

He smiled. "Don't worry about it. When a stranger come up and tells you a bunch of personal detail about you, how else would you react?" He laughed. "Personally, I'd have called the police."

I laughed, choosing not to say anything and just be happy that there were no apparent hard feelings. The way he danced was almost disorientating. I had trouble focusing on anything. I didn't back too it until he started talking again. "What did you do to Rosalie?"

"Hm?"

"I saw you talking to her. Whatever you said really upset her."

Fucking great. I couldn't go one minute at this party without having someone upset. "I should go talk to her."

He swept me in another circle. "She'll be fine," he promised. "I only get a little bit longer to dance with you. This songs almost over."

"As much as I'd love that, I'd rather talk to her before she talks to Emmett. He's not exactly someone I want to hate me."

"I'll let you go under one condition."

I rolled my eyes with a smirk. "What's that?"

"You owe me a dance."

My cheeks flushed with that, but my speech stayed fluid. "I promise."

"She's probably in her room. It's up the stairs and to the left, second door on the right."

"In her room? Didn't know she'd be that upset..." I sighed, turning to make my way to her room. "I'll be back."

As I left the ballroom, the music became somewhat muffled. I felt unsure of myself going up and empty staircase into a more private section of the home, but I didn't want any of the Cullens to decide they didn't like me because of Rosalie. Once I was to the door, I knocked gently.

"What do you want?" came Rosalie's voice from the other side of the door.

"I wanted to talk."

"Relax. I won't tell Emmett anything so you don't have to worry. Just go away."

How the fuck? "Rosalie, please."

The door clicked and swung in as she quickly turned around around sat down on the edge of her bed. "Why couldn't you just go away?"

"I wanted to apologize for upsetting you, but..." I sighed. "I don't know. I just don't understand."

"Don't understand what?"

"You!" I exclaimed, doing my best not to yell. "Since day one you've been nothing but mean to me. Why?"

"Do you think I _want_ to be the bitch?" she chuckled, "Maybe one day I'll be able to tell you."

"There's no reason that you have to be mean, Rosalie," I tried to reason, "I bet we could get along if we tried."

"We'd be an awesome team," she agreed, "But today isn't the day. One day I may be able to stop being like this, but until then, I don't want you anywhere near me."

"What has to change?" I asked.

"That's not my place."

"What?"

She sighed. "Just get out of my room."

After rolling my options around in my head for a bit, I eventually gave up. There really wasn't much I could do. "Under one condition."

She rolled her eyes at me. "What?"

"You have to come back down."

After a pause, she nodded and followed me back down to the party. She split off as soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs. I made my way back into the ballroom too find that the dancing had stopped. Everyone was seated. I quickly made my way back to my chair, which Edward had saved for me.

"What's going on?" I asked quietly.

"It 11:58," he told me. "It's time for the countdown."

As 11:59 hit, the lights dimmed into darkness and a projector dropped down form the ceiling, displaying a live feed from New York.

"You know," Edward said, grabbing my attention, "I never got to see this live where I lived. It was always delayed a couple of hours."

"Where did you live?"

"We moved here from Los Angeles."

I laughed at that one. "You seriously moved _here_ from LA? It so dreary here though! I'd trade this place for the California sunshine any day."

"You'd think," he chuckled. "And another thing."

I cocked my head slightly, signaling him to continue.

"You still owe me a dance."

* * *

><p><strong>(Since I've been gone for so long, this closing 'statement' is going to be a fucking letter. Don't take off your sexy little reading glasses quite yet!)<strong>

**Happy New Year everybody! My updates are usually only two, maybe three, thousand words. I chose to go for four thousand words this time since it's been so long since I've updated. I somehow ended up typing over five thousand words! I always feel like I'm rushing when I type dialog, but I never know what to do to remedy that. Nobody from this site got me anything for Christmas, so what I want as a delayed gift is a beta to help me improve my writing. As a beta, I would let you in on any ideas I have and even share the occasionally drawing with you. Please let me know if you are interested.**

**I know I'm trying not to use page break lines, but I felt it necessary for Alice's letter. I couldn't find any other way to separate it from the surrounding text without making a bunch of spaces. I may begin to use the page break tool again, but I will not use it as much as I have in the past. I will only use it when transitioning any other way would be damaging.**

**You might be wondering about my change in username. It has come to my attention that JudasForever may not be the most memorable username, so I changed it to TheBadRomantic. It stays true to my Gaga nature, but is a lot more memorable in my opinion.**

**Also, I want to thank metzlogan. He/she (there is no bio on their profile so I have no clue which it is) left the sweetest review that I have ever read. They left it on my other story, Equilibrium, in case you want to read it. The review basically said that they were search for _specifically _my story for hours and that their account only exists because of me. I love all reviews, but that one especially encouraged me. This chapter is definitely dedicated to you, metzlogan. If you're reading, thank you for leaving me such a heartwarming review!**

**I have many things planned for the new year, including a new secret story idea for when I complete the two that I have yet to finish. You may have noticed that I took down Your Biggest Fan. The reasoning is that not many people seemed to enjoy that one as much and I had no idea what to do with it. It was a fun idea, but a very half-baked story at that. WickedSlashAngel once told me that any good artist is happy to scrap any of their work if it means working towards improvement. I'm pretty sure that works with writing too. I hope your new year is a good one!**

**I am also considering writing a oneshot. It doesn't have to be romantic. I prefer to do Twilight, but a crossover is also possibly in the cards. I want to hear what you guys want! Consider it a late Christmas present to you. When you leave your review, please be sure to attach what kind of oneshot you want me to write.**

**Damn. This author's note is a little over a tenth as long as the update. It took up an entire page in NeoOffice. I must really like you guys! To extinguish the very real threat that my author's note might swallow my story, I need to stop typing now. Love you!**

**Finally Shutting Up,**

**~TheBadRomantic**


	5. Freeze Notice not a chapter

Recently, people have been demanding more of Equilibrium. For the past while, I have been attempting to write both Ours and Equilibrium, but after many failures I have been forced to make a decision. I'll have to put Ours on pause and pick up Equilibrium. Once I'm done with Equilibrium, I'll need your help to decide wether or not Ours is worth continuing. If nobody speaks up, I will probably scrap it. I have other ideas that I am excited about.

To be honest, writing anything other than Equilibrium was a bad decision. I should have written one story first to refine my writing style (it was pretty shitty in the beginning) and then continued when I finished. If you don't like that I'm putting Ours on pause and considering scrapping it, let me know. I may continue writing it after Equilibrium is finished. If not many people tell me to continue it, I will leave it up for a month after the completion of Equilibrium for someone to adopt as their own story before taking it down, and due to hard drive problems I no longer have the original files.

~TheBadRomantic


	6. End of the Line

Alright. So it's been pretty long since I've updated "Ours", my active story. It's also been over a year since I've updated "Equilibrium", my main story. The thing is that I'm really not into Twilight anymore. I've spent a lot of time reading other fanfiction to try to get back into it. I even read "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" as well as all of the Twilight graphic novels. Watching the newest movie, Breaking Dawn Part 1, made things worse with the deplorable acting. It wasn't just Miss Stewart this time either. Just like Kristen Stewart has trouble expressing emotion, Julia Jones (Leah) is so over the top. Her feelings of rejection are instantly fake looking to anyone who has ever been rejected or has ever had anything bad happen to them in their entire life.

What I'm trying to get at is that I'm done. Sorry, but I can't force myself to write for something that I don't like anymore. I could probably manage it, but that would be like being married to someone that you absolutely can't stand. To me, Twilight is that annoying ex. If anyone wants to adopt any of the stories and complete them, or even if you just want to preserve the completed stories that you liked, then let me know. I will check back at the end of the month. If a story has a request on it, I will give you permission to copy and paste the chapters into your own word processor. You already have my permission, but I don't want multiple people writing the same story. I do not have to original files anymore so it will be up to you to copy and paste the text.

I have a select few rules. You should mention in the author's note that the story was given to you by TributeTara. I only ask that you do this for the first chapter or the intro. Whatever comes first really. This next one isn't really a rule, but I want to say it anyways. You can change anything you want to fit your preference. Just mention in your intro with my name that you altered the story. For example, I never went back and fixed the Adele bashing I did when I was in one of my moods (sorry about that, by the way). If you are a fan or simply don't want that, change it. It's your story now, so do what you want. Whether you're changing something or writing more of the story, I only have one rule about what cannot be in the story. No bashing Lady Gaga.

If you are interested in adopting one or more of the stories, then just let me know somehow. You can take all of them if you really want to. It's a "first come, first serve" type of deal. I will wait until the end of the month before I delete them all. If nobody really sees this in time, that tells me that nobody is really interested enough to make this work. I hope to have some writers come forward and finish off these stories and/or display the completed ones. While I am not in love with Twilight anymore, I still put a lot of time into these stories and would hate to have it all go to waste. I'm truly sorry about this though. I promise to start writing something else in the future. I hope that you'll stick with me as a reader when I venture on past Twilight.

With Love,  
>TributeTara<p> 


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